The present invention relates generally to material handling equipment, and more specifically to equipment for sorting and orienting loose items provided in bulk such as rail spikes and similar fasteners.
Currently, rail spikes used in a rail maintenance gang are stored in bulk and delivered in relatively small groups to an operator station by a reciprocating ram, as disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,216,590 which is incorporated by reference. In conventional rail maintenance operations employing the reciprocating ram, a designated operator draws individual spikes from the small group supplied by the ram, manually orients them in proper top-to-bottom and front-to-back position, and inserts them into a feed tray of a rail fastener driver magazine, of the type disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,398,616; 5,465,667 and 7,104,200, all of which are incorporated by reference.
There is a continuing motivation by railroads to reduce the required labor of rail maintenance operations. Accordingly, maintenance machinery manufacturers have attempted to automate tasks where possible.